European Union Committee

Tuesday 22nd June 2010 Lords Chamber

Membership Motion

15:26

Moved By

[The Chairman of Committees]

European Union Committee

That a Select Committee be appointed:

(1) To consider European Union documents deposited in the House by a Minister, and other matters relating to the European Union;

The expression “European Union document” includes in particular:

(a) a document submitted by an institution of the European Union to another institution and put by either into the public domain;

(b) a draft legislative act or a proposal for amendment of such an act; and

(c) a draft decision relating to the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union under Title V of the Treaty on European Union;

The Committee may waive the requirement to deposit a document, or class of documents, by agreement with the European Scrutiny Committee of the House of Commons:

(2) To assist the House in relation to the procedure for the submission of Reasoned Opinions under Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union and the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality;

(3) To represent the House as appropriate in interparliamentary cooperation within the European Union;

That, as proposed by the Committee of Selection, the following members be appointed to the Committee:

L Bowness, L Carter of Coles, L Dear, L Dykes, L Hannay of Chiswick, L Harrison, B Howarth of Breckland, L Jopling, B O’Cathain , L Paul, L Plumb, L Richard, L Roper (Chairman), E Sandwich, B Sharp of Guildford, L Teverson, L Tomlinson, L Trimble, B Young of Hornsey;

That the Committee have power to appoint sub-committees and to refer to them any matters within its terms of reference; that the Committee have power to appoint the Chairmen of sub-committees, but that the sub-committees have power to appoint their own Chairmen for the purpose of particular inquiries; that the quorum of each sub-committee be two;

That the Committee have power to co-opt any member to serve on a sub-committee;

That the Committee and its sub-committees have power to send for persons, papers and records;

That the Committee have power to appoint specialist advisers;

That the Committee and its sub-committees have power to adjourn from place to place;

That the Committee have leave to report from time to time;

That the Reports of the Committee shall be printed, regardless of any adjournment of the House;

That the evidence taken by the Committee or its sub-committees in the last session of Parliament be referred to the Committee or its sub-committees;

That the evidence taken by the Committee or its sub-committees shall, if the Committee so wishes, be published.

[Lord Stoddart of Swindon]

In the absence of the noble Lord, Lord Pearson, I think I ought to act as his deputy, although I am not a member of his party. I am quite sure that he would want to ask whether the European Union Committee is not rather imbalanced in that it does not represent opinion in the country, which is relatively Eurosceptic, with 52 per cent of the population wishing to leave the European Union completely. However, my real question is whether, in these straitened times, we need so many sub-committees of the European Union Select Committee. Would the committee consider whether we could dispense with one of the sub-committees of the Select Committee and instead meet the demand from this House that we should have a Select Committee on foreign affairs? I think there is a demand for that, and if we cut down on the number of EU committees, we could have a Select Committee of real value to consider foreign affairs.

[The Chairman of Committees]

As I said, I am sorry that the noble Lord, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, is not here. I recognise that the noble Lord, Lord Stoddart, sympathises with him in his views. He said that 52 per cent of the population apparently wishes to leave the European Union. I do not think that the vote in the recent general election, where UKIP got 3 per cent, reflects that, but it is not for me to say.

[A noble Lord]

You said it!

[The Chairman of Committees]

I exceeded my brief in that case, and I apologise to the House. The noble Lord, Lord Stoddart, unfortunately must have missed the debate we had last week when I brought forward the Liaison Committee’s report, which looked at whether we should have a foreign affairs committee, and rejected that proposal. It also looked at the structure of the European Union Committee and decided that it does a valuable job and there is no need to change the main committee or the structures of the sub-committees. I think that, on the whole, that reflects the view of the House.

[Lord Kilclooney]

My Lords, in deciding the membership of this committee, were any members of UKIP consulted by the normal channels?

[The Chairman of Committees]

The noble Lord asked whether UKIP was consulted. The answer is no. I beg to move.

Motion agreed.